53. Greyson
“He’s gonna get fucking pneumonia,” I grunted, tightening the scarf around my neck before pushing the door open. I was behind the resort, close to Noah’s unofficial wood shop, and my face pulled into a scowl as I closed in on him.
“Have you lost your mind?” I barked, stopping a foot away from him. The question should have been aimed at me since I was the one approaching a man with an axe in his hands. But the other option was calling him and I knew for a fact if he was out here like this, his phone was the last thing on his mind.
Noah brought the axe down again, watching the wood split in two. The resounding crack echoed around us before he let his eyes fall on me.
His heavy breaths came out in clouds of vapor and anger drew my face into a tighter scowl. It was too cold out here for him to be this reckless.
“Come inside. Now .”
I left before he could object, but breathed easier when I heard his boots on the walkway behind me.
In my office, he slumped into the chair facing my desk.
“I get that you pissed about last night but getting yourself sick out there won’t help shit.” It had stopped snowing this morning, but only because it was too damn cold to snow. Which made him being outside with no hat or gloves while he chopped wood even more fucked up.
Noah’s moody gaze tracked me as I sat down, facing the monitor with the email that put me on high alert in the first place.
“You missed a tour this afternoon.”
A few silent seconds went by before a look of remorse passed over his face. “Shit. I’m sorry, Grey.”
“John filled in. It’s whatever. I’m not worried about the tour. I’m worried about you. You don’t miss things, Noah.” I leaned back, studying him with a tilt of my head. “I didn’t know your DNA allowed it.”
That pulled a dry laugh out of him and the triumph I felt for making him smile needed to be studied.
Warmth crept into my veins, trying to chase away my earlier frustration. All this because his dad had caught a chaste kiss before I took a call in the lobby.
Shaking the thought from my head, I said, “I know last night didn’t go how you wanted. And I’m not going to knock you down when you already on the ground, but shit, Noah…what did you expect?”
He didn’t speak. He just watched me with his brows dipped and his expression closed off.
“Nobody who loves you would sit there and let them talk to you crazy like that. We’ve known since True showed up that she wasn’t a “sit there and take it” type of person. And I don’t disagree with her standing up to him…”
I waited for him to scoff, to tell me I was choosing sides, anything. But all he did was smooth his hand over his hair and avoid my eyes.
“Would you let somebody talk to me or her the way your parents talk to you?”
“Hell no,” he said without hesitation.
“Why?”
“Because y’all are…everything to me.” His voice dipped at the end and the edge in my tone died a quick death.
“Then why do you get mad when people stand up for you? Why do you want us to watch you get hurt without saying anything?”
“Because it doesn’t change anything. My dad don’t give a fuck about words.”
“Then stop being around him. Stop giving him access to you. But don’t ask the people who love you to stop loving you. Because that’s what you do when you love somebody, you don’t let people treat them like shit.”
Noah stared at the corner of my desk but I could tell his thoughts weren’t in this room with us. “True doesn’t love me.”
“A blind man could see how much that woman adores you. And I know you love her too. Even though you haven’t said it.”
He leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees and hid his face in his hands.
“It doesn’t matter. She’s leaving anyway.”
With shock strumming through me, I dropped the pen in my hand. “What did you say?”
Staring at him, I waited for him to repeat it as my heart skipped too many beats in my chest.
“True…she’s leaving. Because of me.” He wouldn’t make eye contact with me. “I dropped her off at her grandparents’ house with a huge suitcase this morning.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he grimaced, and that alone silenced the outburst on the tip of my tongue.
This morning . It was 5 o’clock now. Was that why she hadn’t texted me back all day? Why hadn’t Noah said anything before now?
Covering my face with my hands, I let out a ragged sigh and tried to inhale calming breaths.
We were only a few weeks in and I was already questioning my ability to keep my head straight while loving two stubborn ass people. I needed a drink. But I needed True more than that.
Pulling in a breath, I stood and put my suit jacket on, moving around the desk in two steps. I was headed for the door before I doubled back and grabbed Noah’s chin. “Kiss me,” I commanded.
He did and my lids grew heavy at the first touch of his lips on mine today. Fuck. How had I missed that so much already? I deepened the kiss, sucking at his tongue before forcing myself away.
“Go home. You’re not coming back here until Friday. You need some time away from this place.” Time away from his parents .
“Grey—”
“Bye, Noah. I’ll see you at home.”
Outside, my eyes landed on the 4Runner double parked two spaces down from me. If I was feeling pettier, I’d call the towing company and have it gone before Michael walked out here again. He deserved that shit after the rift he created, but being a business owner meant I had to be the bigger person, even when people deserved hell.
For now, I left it alone. But if I didn’t find True somewhere in this town, all bets were fucking off and the last thing he would be worried about was getting cussed out by the woman I loved.